The Weekly Post: Eating better (kind of)One of the unintentional perks of our summer getaway to Washington D.C. is that we’ve eaten better — and by that I mean really that we just haven’t eaten as much fast food as we did when we lived in Russellville. I wish I could credit this to rigorous self-discipline, but in reality it’s simply because fast food isn’t worth the trouble it is to get. On two different occasions, Jess and I made forays into the city to eat at specific restaurants...

Wildfire seasonLITTLE ROCK — The fire most likely started with a lightning strike. Amid the low humidity, drought conditions and strong winds, it spread quickly. As firefighting efforts escalated, winds began to shift erratically, pushing the fire in unpredictable directions. Suddenly, 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite firefighting crew from Prescott, Ariz., were lost to the flames. It is the deadliest U.S. wildfire in decades. While the ...

Racism is just plain wrongOne of the things that unnecessarily rips at the very fabric of our society is something we call racism. This word simply means some people think they are superior to others because of the color of their skin. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you now feel, or have ever felt this way, I believe what I am going to share in this column will be helpful. The roots of racism go far back in our nation’s history, but a few weeks ago I was r...

The dangers of waiting too longI’d toyed with an idea for a long time before my grandmother passed away. I told myself I was going to interview her. I’d interview her much like I would somebody for the newspaper, except this interview would never see print. Or, at least, public print. I told myself I was going to interview everyone in my family. Then I was going to make a book for everyone in the family to read. It would be filled with stories of our own family, things many...

‘Guru’ contends newspapers have futureKevin Slimp made a name for himself by learning how to use and explain the rapidly changing technology available to American newspapers. He has appeared at newspaper association conventions all over the United States and Canada for seminars on such complex software as Photoshop, InDesign and Quark, as well as new hardware tools that hit the market. Chances are that you’ve used an innovation inspired by his work by downloading a “PDF” document,...

City should stop deficit spendingAt the June Russellville City Council meeting, the council voted 6-0 with two aldermen abstaining for an ordinance ﬁnancing the El Paso Corridor Project with a $2.5 million loan from Regions Bank. I addressed the council expressing my concern with the city using “deﬁcit spending” to ﬁnance this project and asked why the city was borrowing money, as opposed to ﬁnancing it with the current “1-cent sales tax” for streets and drainage, as it was b...

No standard“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” — Genesis 2:24, NIV The problem for people who believe in an Authority higher even than the Constitution is that in our increasingly secular and indifferent society it has become more difficult to persuade those who do not subscribe to an immutable standard to accept that view. It is nearly impossible to restrain a people ...

Begging for surveillanceUntil I got married, which was only a few years ago, I threw away every census form I ever received. I answered the last census because my wife made me. “You have to fill it out,” she said. “If you don’t, they just come to your house.” “No, they don’t come to your house,” I said. “Not if you never fill one out in your whole life. You never fill one out, they don’t know where to look.” I won’t buy lottery tickets, but I will bet with a bookie. ...

Mental HealthLudomania, also known as problem gambling or compulsive gambling, is an urge to continuously gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. It has been referred to as an impulse control disorder even though it has some features of obsessive compulsive disorder. Ludomania is a progressive addiction characterized by repeated episodes of compulsive gambling which consumes a person’s life at the expense of family, friends, job, ...

Maybe we don’t tell pollsters the truthEverybody knows that we have two Americas: Red state/blue state, Republican/Democrat, etc. If you look at the polls, it’s not just that we don’t share the same opinions. We seem hopelessly divided even on the facts. Or are we? Researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research decided to test if respondents answer poll questions truthfully. They wanted to see if there were reasons, other than belief, that a 2010 Harris Interactive poll ...

To mill or not to millPolitics can be a strange phenomena and just like the mirror says, beware, things are not always as they appear! It is funny how we can sometimes hear things that aren’t actually said and assume things that aren’t actually true. The discussion on the Pope County Quorum Court regarding a millage increase has been interesting since a new court was seated in January. Ironically, by merely requesting a vote on the issue of a millage, people automa...

The assignment given to TitusThe Apostle Paul established some churches on the island of Crete. When Paul moved on to set up new churches elsewhere, he left those churches in the capable hands of Titus. Paul had trained and equipped Titus for a special job. Titus 1:1-5 states, “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in the hope of eternal life, which...

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Pastor Steve EllisonThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

The priesthood changed?Hebrew 7:12 tells us that when the priesthood is changed, there necessarily takes place a change of law. All the way from childhood there has always been a great emphasis placed on keeping the Ten Commandments, keeping God’s laws. But for a Christian is this a correct focus? I have heard people say that you must keep a balance between the law and grace, so what does that mean, grace saves you and obedience to the law keeps you? Let me point ou...

Meet summer intern Shane CrabtreeMy name is Shane Crabtree. I am a 19-year-old college student at Arkansas Tech University, and I am currently working as a summer intern at The Courier. A lot of people will say there isn’t anything cool, adventurous or exciting about working at a newspaper, especially one that is at a local level. But you know, I disagree. There are so many things that make a newspaper reporting job exciting, especially to me. So, maybe if I told you a little...

Foreign agents just a phone call awayI might as well confess. Since I’m a cell phone customer of Verizon, the National Security Agency no doubt has records of all my calls for the past few years, thanks to an order from a top-secret federal court. I’ve been in touch with foreign agents many times. A senior Obama administration official has said that the order “does not allow the government to listen in on anyone’s telephone calls” but rather relates only to “metadata,” such as th...

A ‘bold’ auditor candidateMost voters pay little attention to the race for state auditor, so it might seem odd to be writing about it this far out. But this year might be different for a couple reasons, including some “bold” statements from one of the candidates. For starters, all down-ballot statewide races might get more focus this year after former State Treasurer Martha Schoffner demonstrated in a profound way how electing the wrong person can cause problems. The o...

Farm Bureau perspectiveArkansas agriculture — our state’s largest industry sector — was thrown into limbo when the U.S. House of Representatives voted down a comprehensive five-year Farm Bill on Thursday. The $16 billion added to our state economy each year, the 20 percent of the state’s jobs that connect to agriculture, and the livelihood of the men and women of agriculture all were dealt a serious blow when the House said voted down the Federal Agriculture Reform ...

Attack ads used because they workIf you’ve turned on the television lately, you’ve probably noticed that negative ads for next year’s Senate race have already begun airing. We can look forward to 17 months of this. Arkansans won’t be able to turn on the television without seeing why Sen. Mark Pryor or his eventual Republican opponent shouldn’t be walking free, much less running for office. There will be some ads actually telling us why we should vote for Pryor or his opponent...

Summer learningLITTLE ROCK — The Museum of Discovery, a Science and History museum in downtown Little Rock, is known for its kid-friendly, hands-on exhibits. I attended the opening of their latest exhibit this week. When you see kids interacting with the exhibits, they don’t look like they’re learning; they look like they’re having fun. In reality, they’re doing both. It’s an effective teaching method, and the museum has gained some prestigious recognition f...

Visit your local farmers’ marketLITTLE ROCK — This week may be your first opportunity to snatch up a bushel of Arkansas grown peaches. Peaches are grown throughout the state with the highest concentrations of peach farms in Pope County and Johnson County. But before you head out to the supermarket, we want to encourage you to check out what your local farmers’ market may have to offer. Homegrown peaches are just the beginning. Less than 10 years ago, there were just over 30 ...

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Ark. House of RepresentativesThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley